Diseases can improve Science Literacy... What was that?

If you or someone in your family has a disease, you might Reach ReadTM to find out more about it. Students are the same way. The first journal article on a particular subject might be tough, but by the fifth one, you got most of the lingo down, and the reading becomes easier. The first one, though, you'll need to keep a dictionary (physical or digital) nearby.

Here's an example on, "glycemic index:"

http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/142/3/1148

When you have, "a need to know," hard words won't stop you. Even if you can't read the article, you can carry it in to your doctors' offices as your own, "reading material," and have a positive effect on your health care (my opinion and experience).

Now, back to the example of, "glycemic index." Let's look at the author and title of the above-referenced journal article:

Endocrinology Vol. 142, No. 3 1148-1155
Copyright © 2001 by The Endocrine Society

Monounsaturated Fatty Acid Diets Improve Glycemic Tolerance through Increased Secretion of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1¹

Antonio S. Rocca², Jonathon LaGreca³, Juliana Kalitsky³ and Patricia L. Brubaker

Departments of Physiology (A.S.R., J.L.G., J.K., P.L.B.) and Medicine (P.L.B.), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Patricia L. Brubaker, Ph.D., Rm 3366, Medical Sciences Building, 1 King’s College Circle, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A8. E-mail: p.brubaker@utoronto.ca.

Hmm! What words do you know in the title?

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Do you have them all on your list? Congratulations! Now for the rest of us...

Do not panic!

You are in the Reach ReadingTM zone. Whew!

Take it slowly, like Einstein did when he read. It's ok to take a long time, even to get through the title. Oh, by the way, science fair people, it is a good idea to support some of your work, in background information or in discussion, by citing journal articles, so, take your time. You can do it. (Do I sound like a cheerleader yet?) Ah! That is more like it. relax. You are not supposed to know all the words. In fact,

No one knows all the words.

Source: Joan Beinetti, Reading Specialist and Home School Expert; Personal Communication with J. S. Shipman; 1989.

Don't you feel better knowing that, "No one knows all the words." Even geniuses use dictionaries. You don't have to be afraid of science any more (if you ever were.)

That release felt grand, didn't it. You don't have to be afraid in front of students of needing to look up words. It is expected!!! They should expect it of themselves. You are, "modeling," that desired behavior while learning new vocabulary yourself.

After slugging through the first article, the rest get easier and easier. Note, I didn't say easy. But after about five articles, they may seem easy to you. And, you will know a lot about your disease.

"Glycemic index," isn't a disease," you say.

"I know that," I reply. So, let's get on with the matter at hand. People with diabetes, pre-diabetes, people who are hungry all the time, people who drink a lot of water (more than everyone else), people who are hypoglycemic, people who are obese, people who are sooo slim, people who are, "just right," ...many people have diseases related to the, "glycemic index."

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More by Joan Beinetti:
http://blog.bravewriter.com/2007/08/16/freshening-the-homeschool-plan/

More on and by Patricia Brubaker:
http://www.obesitynetwork.ca/members/view.aspx?id=126&title=Patricia+Brubaker

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Patricia+Brubaker+Toronto&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Search

Ten Tips for Science Fairs...AND...Can you volunteer to help with a Science Fair? A new Science Fair Idea!

Does your local school need people to volunteer to help with the science fair? Why not find out. Some school's don't have science fair's because there is only one teacher that is willing to do the work associated with science fair.

What can you do?

Are you a scientist? An artist? You can mentor a student.

A parent? Encourage your child to build on what he or she already knows.

What can you do?

A nurse or doctor? Could you explain aseptic technique to a class?

A detective? You might explain the process of elimination when looking at forensic clues.

What can you do?

Are you a chef? Explain how an understanding of microbiology is important to food safety in the kitchen and throughout a restaurant.

What can you do?

Important points to remember when working on science fair:
1. Children are naturally curious and make great, "scientists."
2. Follow all safety rules.
3. The student should keep a log book.
4. Does the student understand the value of a, "control," in a science experiment?
5. Scientists build on the work of others before them. Remember to fully cite all sources used. There are style manuals that help the student with citations. You might want to help if the student hasn't been exposed to the concept of citing works of others.
6. Even blogs and websites need to be cited. Where did the information come from?
7. Even grade school children can be exposed to refereed journal articles. The top winners usually use them.
8. Explore, but have fun, too.
9. Start early. Experiments typically take time.
10. The BSA website has lots of great ideas.

Differentiating "Primary Sources" from "Stories about Science"

Here's a link to an article on fat genes.

Can you tell if it is a "primary source" or not?

Who did the research? Did the person or people who did the research write this article?

How can you find primary source articles?

Where can you find them?

What format do they typically follow?

Is any of your work generating primary source information? Which work?

(c) 2008 J S Shipman

Science Meeting Link

Here is a link to science meeting software. You may find it useful. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, so, if you are familiar with it, please leave a comment. Perhaps it is useful for arranging a science fair, or, keeping track of references for your research.

Thank you for any evaluations.

http://www.labmeeting.com/signin

See It to Believe It - Visual Discrimination

Here's a link to some interesting science experiments:
Neuroscience for K-12
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chvision.html

One of the experiments is on Visual Discrimination and suggests, among other things, comparing and contrasting flourescent lights and incandescent lights.

Sometimes it is fun to start science with a story.

The Tortoise and the Hares run from Sydney to Melbourne
ia a story you will treasure.

Now, let's link it to science and use it as an example of how you could develop a science fair project.

The story has a literature side and a sports side. You might be a literary or sports fan, but, you have to do science. How can you use your interests to your benefit? Can you think of some possible ways?

Does the story help you think up a "do-able" experiment?

Here are some hints:
control vs experimental
rules for animal experiments
physiology
turtles
tortoises
speed of different animals
data
repeatability
aerobic exercise and blood oxygen content
blood oxygen in people of all ages
sports medicine
exercise and health
when being slow wins, health=wise
results
drawings, photos, charts
...
Add your own brainstorm and then write an experimental design. Post any questions.

(c)2008 J. S. Shipman. All rights reserved

Sauerkraut Science (Post under development)

Sauerkraut Science
What has sauerkraut got to do with science?
Here is a lesson about picking a science fair topic.

(Not doing science fair ? Just want a good read? Read the link at the end of this post.)

Pick something you are interested in or that you can afford to use. Then, look for the science related to that item. Okay, we've selected sauerkraut, just to prove that almost any topic can become a subject of science study.

Brainstorm: What about sauerkraut has to do with science? What does your topic have to do with science?

Do a Literature Search:
Here's a sampling of literature found on sauerkraut. Do a search on your own topic.

• Books

1. Chemical Activities (Teacher's Addition) Christie L. Borgford and Lee R. Summerlin. ISBN13:97808412163 ISBN10:0841214166 paper. 244 pages.
2. Traditionally Fermented Foods http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=1939
   

• Newspapers and Magazines
• Journals

1. Food Chemistry: Changes in biogenic amine concentrations during sauerkraut storage. Volume 69, Issue 3, 15 May 2000, Pages 309-314
   doi:10.1016/S0308-8146(99)00273-3 Copyright © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
2. Leuconostoc sp. strains: aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/68/6/2877
3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/fstl.1996.0055
   

• Internet

1. Fermented Foods
2. Lactic Acid Bacteria
3. Microbiology
4. Create Sauerkraut (commercial kit)
5. Create sauerkraut (the old-fashioned way)
6. http://www.genkifoods.com/faq.html (commercial site)
7. DNA Fingerprinting in Sauerkraut?
   

Define a problem: "Do different amounts of salt affect the final product," or, "Do spices change the ability of the cabbage to be fermented?"

Brainstorm again:

Select a question from among your brainstormed ideas:

Write an experimental design:

• Introduction
• Materials and Methods (future tense)
• Blank data table
• Literature Cited

Set up the Experiment

Perform the Experiment

Collect Data

Analyze Data

Think about the Experiment and Future Experiments it suggests

Write a Laboratory Report:

• Introduction
• Materials and Methods (Past Tense)
• Results
• Discussion and Conclusions
• Literature Cited
  

Write a Reflection

• What did you do well?
• What did you learn?
• Do you have something to publish?
• Do you have ideas for another experiment?
• What can you do to improve your science fair experience next time?
  

Here's a wintertime story on sauerkraut that you might enjoy: http://www.thisisby.us/index.php/content/old_mother_hubbard__s_sauerkraut_soup

(c)2007, 2008 J. S. Shipman

Here's a Science Fair Guide you might find useful:

A Public Library Resource on Science Fairs:
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/projectguide/

Remember that scientists use art and writing. They are imaginative. They also pay attention to detail. Some important words for science fair (among other words) are:

control

versus

experimental

replicates

replications

duplicate

triplicate

quadruplicate

repeatability

fact

opinion

statistics

Do you know what these words mean?

Do you know why they are important?



(c)2007 J. S. Shipman

Did you pick cabbage?

In a previous post, What can you learn from one plant?, you might have picked a plant to study. If you picked cabbage, here are some links of interest.

Here's a line drawing

Here's a link to Cabbage Chemistry

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Science Fair Winners!!!

Here's a quote on science fair winners:

"Erin's project involved testing two water sources along the Appalachian Trail to find how safe they were and whether iodine would get rid of three forms of bacteria in the samples.

"'And I found that the iodine does work,' she said.

"Chris entered a working prototype of a hard-surface "sailing" vehicle he had designed and engineered. He had competed in last year's fair with a scale model.

"The vehicle might be described as a sailboat on wheels using wings instead of sails. Next year, he hopes to be testing the 'land sailer' itself and seeing what wing angle gets the best speed."

Congratulations!!!
(Read more at http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/wb/xp-57687)

Resource for Science Fair Ideas...Plant Research (Botany)

http://www.plantingscience.org/

Dr-J is involved in "planting science." She knows many of the scientists that are involved. You will have the opportunity to communicate with scientists about your research if you get involved.